It all started because I didn't feel like cooking dinner. Last Sunday, Jon, Jake, and I sat in the den for hours searching for college scholarships that Jake might qualify for - the final push in a lengthy application process. After searching lists and lists that read something like "527 matching results, 45 pages", he found three additional scholarships. Before we knew it, hours had passed, and we all felt stir crazy and mind-numb! 

  While I enjoy the spontaneity of wandering the grocery store aisles for ingredients that inspire and making up a meal as I toss those items into my cart, I find this doesn't work well for me on a daily basis when cooking for my family. (Though it is a fun date-night:) I have planned and shopped for meals by the week since our very first grocery store trip as a married couple.

Don't you just love the possibilities a new beginning brings? Beginnings give us a chance to try something new, get rid of things that don't work anymore, and stretch ourselves in new ways. Savored joy is that new beginning for me. ​